Pandora A/S (often styled PANDORA) is an international Danish jewelry manufacturer and retailer founded in 1982 by Per Enevoldsen.[1] The company started as a family-run jewelry shop in Copenhagen before transforming to an international brand.

Pandora is known for its customizable charm bracelets, designer rings, necklaces and watches. The company has a production site in Thailand and markets its products in more than 80 countries on 6 continents with approximately 10,000 points of sale.

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Pandora was founded in 1982 by Danish gold smith Per Enevoldsen and his wife Winnie Enevoldsen. The pair began on a small scale niche by importing jewelry from Thailand and selling to consumers.[2] As demand for their products grew, the Enevoldsens turned their attention to wholesaling. After a successful wholesale venture, in 1989 Enevoldsen hired in-house designers and established a manufacturing site in Thailand, where it is still located to date. With low production cost and efficient supply chain, the Enevoldsens could provide cheap hand-finished jewelry for the mass market. Pandora's collection grew to include a wide assortment of rings, necklaces, earrings and watches.

The Danish private equity group Axcel bought a 60% stake in the company from the Enevoldsen family in 2008. Shares totalling DKK 9.96 billion(US$ 1.84 billion) were sold in an IPO in October 2010, making it one of the biggest IPOs in Europe that year and giving Pandora a market capitalisation of around DKK 27 billion.[3] The company is publicly listed on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen Stock Exchange in Denmark and is a component of the OMX Copenhagen 20 index.

Pandora became the world's third-largest jewelry company in terms of sales, after Cartier and Tiffany & Co.[2] In 2011, more than one piece of Pandora jewellery was sold every second.[4] Shares fell nearly 80% in 2011 after a shift in focus to higher-end designs alienated core customers, but performance recovered after a return to the more affordable mass market. The group reported revenue of DKK 11.9 billion and net profit in excess of DKK 3 billion in 2014.[5]

Sales of the Pandora brand began in Europe and it first entered North America in 2003. The company opened concept stores around the world before its franchising model began in Australia in 2009.[4] Pandora is present in more than 80 countries and employs more than 9,000 people worldwide.[6]

Pandora launched an online sales platform in Europe in 2011, and is currently working to expand its e-commerce to the majority of its markets including Australia.[7]

Europe and the United States accounted for nearly 90% of group sales in 2014. The group announced a Chinese distribution deal in 2015, with plans to increase store numbers to "a couple of hundred" in China.[5]